Early the next morning, Lin En woke to sunlight shining on him. The inn had no curtains, so the sunlight fell directly on him.
He opened his eyes and found that Ronava was no longer in the room.
The balcony door stood open, letting in the morning breeze and the damp air peculiar to the rainforest.
He got up and walked onto the balcony. Ronava was leaning against the railing with both hands, looking up into the distance.
"What are you looking at?"
"The mountain."
Ronava pointed into the distance.
Lin En looked where she pointed. North of Sumeru City stood a modest mountain, its slopes covered in rainforest. He could just make out a path winding up to the summit.
There was a broad, level clearing at the top, where someone seemed to have built a small pavilion.
"Want to go up and take a look?"
Lin En asked.
Ronava tilted her head and glanced at him.
"The view should be better up there, and climbing the mountain would be good exercise. Have your injuries healed?"
"They healed ages ago."
Lin En moved his left arm around, then patted the bandage on his chest.
"The medicine you applied helped me heal faster."
"Smooth talker. Come on."
Ronava turned toward the stairs. Lin En chuckled to himself and hurried after her.
They left the inn and took a path leading north from Sumeru City up the mountain.
The path wasn't very steep, but it was narrow. Tall trees and low shrubs grew thickly on either side, and vines hung overhead, forcing them to duck from time to time.
The morning mist had yet to clear. A thin layer of white vapor filled the forest, making it look rather like a paradise on earth.
Lin En walked in front, using his shortsword to push aside the vines blocking their path.
Ronava followed behind him, her silver hair gleaming faintly in the morning mist.
She walked at an unhurried pace, occasionally stopping to look at the flowers and plants by the path or raising her head to watch the birds' nests among the treetops.
Lin En noticed that when she looked at the flowers, her gaze was softer than usual, and the corners of her mouth curved ever so slightly.
"Do you like flowers?"
he asked.
"I don't dislike them."
"Then what do you like?"
Ronava glanced at him, a faint glimmer flashing in her eyes, and said with a hint of tenderness,
"Guess."
"Power?"
"No."
...He tried a few more guesses, but didn't get a single one right.
"Forget it, I give up. You're still too hard to read."
Lin En gave up on the spot. An ice beauty like her was too hard to read, or so he thought, at least.
After another half hour or so, the mountain path gradually widened, and the trees grew sparser.
An open slope appeared ahead, covered in great swathes of purple wildflowers unique to Sumeru, swaying gently in the morning breeze. At the far end stood the little pavilion on the summit, its white roof and red pillars nestled among the flowers.
Ronava paused at the foot of the slope.
Lin En looked back at her. Ronava's gaze rested on the purple flowers, their scattered reflections filling her golden eyes.
She said nothing, simply standing there as the mountain wind swept her silver hair back and the hem of her clothes brushed lightly against the edge of the flowers.
"You."
That was the only word Ronava said before continuing toward the pavilion.
"What is it?"
Lin En had heard her call out to him, only to walk away again. Had he misheard?
He reached out and pushed aside the flowers in front of him, following Ronava toward the pavilion at the summit.
When they reached the pavilion, they sat down.
The pavilion was small, with four white pillars supporting a white roof and no walls on any side. It offered an excellent view of the whole of Sumeru City, with a sea of flowers all around it.
Lin En picked a flower and sniffed it. It was very fragrant.
He picked a few more and began weaving them together.
Ronava sat on the pavilion railing, gazing at Sumeru City in the distance. The daylight reflected in her golden eyes, and her expression was much more relaxed than usual.
Lin En sat beside her and took two wild fruits he had picked along the way from his pocket, offering her one.
"Try it."
Ronava took it and had a bite, her brows drawing together slightly.
"This fruit of yours is a little sour, but it tastes good."
"Maybe it isn't quite ripe."
"You picked it?"
"I grabbed it by the roadside."
Lin En scratched his head. He had picked it on a whim and hadn't considered whether it was ripe.
Ronava glanced at him, but instead of throwing the fruit away, she took two more bites.
Watching her take another two bites of the sour fruit, Lin En couldn't help the smile that curved his lips.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing. I guess the fruit isn't sour after all, or why would you eat so much of it?"
"You can try it."
Lin En took a bite of his fruit too, and his face twisted. This was more than a little sour. It was so sour it tasted bitter, completely unripe, yet Ronava had eaten so much of it.
"Pah, pah, that's sour! Don't eat any more of yours."
He took the fruit from Ronava's hand and turned to throw it away. When he turned back, he saw her tilt her head and secretly smile.
"What are you laughing at now?"
"That fruit really is sour. I lied to you."
"When did you learn to trick people too? Still, you look beautiful when you smile. If it would make you smile, it would be worth eating fruit like this every day."
"Actually, you don't have to eat it. I just worked for so long before that I no longer felt like smiling."
Ronava smiled again. It was like a warm winter breeze, making Lin En's heart beat faster.
They sat in the pavilion for a long time. Sunlight shone down warmly from above, and the breeze rose from the valley, carrying the scent of flowers and the sound of birdsong.
Sumeru City went about its business quietly below them. Now and then, scholars entered or left the House of Daena, and caravans of sumpter beasts passed through the city gate. Everything was slow and quiet.
"Finally finished."
Lin En held up the flower wreath he had spent so long weaving. It was rather crude, but if it were placed on Ronava's head...
With that thought, he put it on her before she could react.
"Hm?"
Ronava was visibly stunned for a moment.
"Hehe, I didn't expect you to look like an angel wearing a flower wreath."
"An angel?"
She didn't know why Lin En compared her to an angel, but she could hear the praise in his words.
"Clouds bring to mind her robes, flowers her face; the spring breeze caresses the railing, and dew glistens thick."
Lin En made a frame with his hands.
"It's a shame I didn't bring a Kamera to capture this beautiful sight."
Ronava tucked the hair at her temples behind her ears, her face a little red.
"It's enough to keep it in your memory."
A subtle mood settled over them.
"Hey, you two! You can't just pick flowers here. There's a fine for that!"
A Sumeru scholar noticed them and jogged over.
"Oh no, we've been caught!"
Lin En immediately grabbed Ronava's hand and ran into the sea of flowers, sending petals flying and drifting down on either side of them.
The sun slowly sank westward, and the clouds on the horizon turned pale gold. The lights of Sumeru City began to come on, dotting the edge of the green rainforest one by one.
Having shaken off the scholar, they held hands and followed the path they had taken up the mountain back down.
The mountain path was much darker than it had been on the way up. The canopy blocked most of the light, with only occasional rays of the setting sun slipping through the gaps.
By the time they returned to the inn, it was completely dark.
Ronava let go of his hand and pushed the door open. She took the wreath off her head and placed it on the bedside table.
Lin En stood in the middle of the room, looking at the little white flower and the bell lying side by side on the bedside table. He felt an indescribable sense of contentment.
He lay down on his bedding on the floor and closed his eyes. He heard Ronava's footsteps as she came out of the washroom, light and steady.
"When are we going to Mount Damavand?"
"Probably the day after tomorrow."
"Then good night. I had a wonderful time today."
Ronava didn't reply. She simply lay down on the bed, facing Lin En.
The room was dark, and he couldn't see her face clearly. All he could make out was her silver hair gleaming faintly in the moonlight.
A long time later, her voice came from the darkness, very soft.
"Good night. I had a wonderful time too."